Saturday, April 23, 2011

Baltimore Trans Woman Beaten, Legislature Failed to Pass Bill

This month the Maryland legislature failed to pass a bill that would have given some equal rights to transgender citizens. Before sinking it procedurally they gutted the bill, taking out a provision that would have given them equal access to "public accommodations," which means everything from going to the mall to being served in a restaurant. The problem was that "public accommodations" might include bathrooms, it might allow transgender people to use public restrooms, and that was just too controversial for our elected representatives.

It's late, so I'm not going to say much here. This video has "gone viral," as they say on the Internet. It shows some MacDonalds customers in Baltimore beating up a transgender woman who had gone into the ladies room. As you watch the video you will realize that everyone in the room approves of the beating. Nobody considers the victim's point of view, they are outraged that a transwoman needed to pee and that's that, they beat her until she falls down and has a seizure.

We don't know anything about this person, and it doesn't matter. Had she had surgery? Doesn't matter. Did she look masculine? Doesn't matter. Her voice, high or low? Doesn't matter. A person has to pee.

This happened in Rosedale on April 18th. Two people have been arrested.

Watch this video, and think about what it is like to be that woman who needed to use the bathroom.

You can read a little about the circumstances of this video at The Smoking Gun, some more HERE at the Baltimore Sun. I don't know what the story is going to turn out to be, but nobody should be treated like that. This is a hate crime, pure and simple, caught on camera. Everybody in the place allows the beating to continue, nobody thinks about the victim.

This is Ruth Jacobs' dream come true, a transgender person using a bathroom, this is the situation that the Citizens for Responsible Government rallied around, and this video shows you the result of their campaigning. This is what they were talking about, someone who identifies as a woman needs to use the bathroom, and this is what happens to them. Our Maryland state legislature had the chance, they had the bill in front of them, and they played games with it and let it slip away. This is what it was about, not whether the Senate's feelings are hurt because the House didn't pass the bill they sent them.

Because many people don't realise that assaulting Trans people is illegal.

They think it's funny. You can hear them laughing on the video. And they warn the perps that the police are coming, so they can make their escape. Even give one back her cellphone, so she can't be identified from that.

After all, Trans and Intersexed people can be denied service at a lunch counter; forced to sit at the back of the bus, or be refused travel altogether; they can be refused treatment at an ER; they have no right to use any public drinking fountain, not just one marked "Whites Only".

They can be summarily ejected from rental accommodation, denied entry to homeless shelters afterwards, and fired from their jobs, not for anything they've done, but because of who they are. Intersexed or Transsexual.

And all quite, quite legal.

So you can see that it's an easy mistake to make, thinking that beating them, even killing them, mist be legal too. After all, didn't the President of the Maryland Senate say that granting them any human rights, no matter how limited, was "Anti Family"?

I hope each and every one of the shower nuts watches this video so they can see the bullying violence results their lobbying efforts through their newsletters and public comments of fear and loathing have wrought.

Are you happy now Ruth and Theresa or will you not stop until legal protections for our trans citizens are removed from the books in MoCo?

This video exposes the ugly truth. It's not citizens who need to fear trans persons, it's trans persons who need to fear our citizens who have been tainted with the shower nuts filth.

Anon, the antidiscrimination law wasn't about beating people. These people think they are justified in beating this person, because she used the ladies room. It should have been clear from the beginning that she had the right to use the ladies room. But it was not, because Ruth Jacobs and her gang of bigots have convinced everyone that there is something dangerous in letting trans women use the toilet, and that a new law would permit that.

This week, news broke that the Obama administration had quietly shuttered the only Justice Department unit that exclusively fought adult obscenity (defined as criminally offensive material that has no “serious literary, political, artistic, or medical value”). Amid a flurry of criticism, administration officials defended the move, arguing that limited resources would be better spent prosecuting cases of child exploitation. Meanwhile, conservatives such as Sen. Orrin Hatch seized the opportunity to accuse the White House of being soft on hardcore porn.

Earlier this month, 42 senators signed a letter urging Attorney General Eric Holder to step up enforcement of federal obscenity laws. Among the cast of mostly Republican signers, one name stood out: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a staunch liberal from California, the de-facto porn capital of America.

She wasn’t alone: many other Senate Democrats, including Minnesota’s left-wing warrior, Amy Klobuchar, also signed the letter, and they were applauded by feminists, leftist lawyers, and liberal academics. Together, this increasingly vocal segment of progressives is making the case that hardcore porn flies in the face of cherished liberal causes—and that Democrats should be leading the charge to take down its distributors

"Trans and Intersexed people can be denied service at a lunch counter; forced to sit at the back of the bus, or be refused travel altogether; they can be refused treatment at an ER; they have no right to use any public drinking fountain, not just one marked "Whites Only".

They can be summarily ejected from rental accommodation, denied entry to homeless shelters afterwards, and fired from their jobs, not for anything they've done, but because of who they are. Intersexed or Transsexual.

And all quite, quite legal."

that's true

it is legal

it's also legal to do the same to ugly people

but, it's not widely happening

and no one thinks it's OK to beat up ugly people because it's legal to discriminate against them

Maybe the attackers heard the CRW's message of fear and hate in their churches. After all the CRW's hero and 2005 keynote speaker, Rep. Don Dwyer said "I’ve been accused of spreading hate and fear among the churches throughout the State of Maryland. Guilty as charged. I am spreading hate and fear. I am spreading the hate of the homosexual activist and I’m spreading my fear of what’s going to happen to this great state and our great nation if people of this world do not take a stand."

How much hate and fear would you feel, Mr. Dwyer, if a trans woman could pee at McDonald's just like any other woman?

Look at the video to see what's happened with the stand the CRW, like their ally Don Dwyer, has taken. A trans woman has been savagely attacked in a public restroom.

Clean the wax out of your ears the clouds out of your eyes and listen to and watch the video.

One of the attackers clearly says "He's wearing a dress" and then kicks the trans woman in the head. Later a man says, "That's a man" as the trans woman is being dragged by her hair on her knees to the entrance of the restaurant. A grandmother dressed in a white sweat suit finally intercedes and tells the attackers to "Get off of her," and tries to protect the trans woman from the two attackers. A bit later, a man very near the camera says, "Her mouth is bleeding, she's having a f**king seizure, man!"

I think the State Representatives of Maryland should be forced to view this video and then say that a Gender Protections bill including public accomodations is not needed. They are as culpable for this assault as were the two viscious animals that physically attacked this victim. I hope she sues the hell out of McDonalds and that these two creeps are thrown in prison where they belong.

I used to feel pretty safe in public as a transwoman, now I’m scared. This is why hate crimes laws are needed, there are two victims, the immediate victim and the larger community who is robbed of their peace of mind.

And for bad anonymous to show up here and try to minimize and justify this attack ("Maybe the two girls were propositioned by Polis.") is just sickening and shows what a scumbag he is. What a wretched excuse for a human you are bad anonymous.

Of course it doesn't matter to you, anon. The fact is, the beating was gender-related, this person was brutalized because she did not meet the expectations of the morons who were eating in the Macdonalds.

I guarantee that if a Christian were beaten like this for their beliefs you would think it mattered that the beating was "religion-related!"

This is why our schools and religious institutions must teach tolerance. The perpetrators dehumanized the victim, enabling themselves to attack her; that's essentially the tactic of such groups as CRC, FRC, CWfA, and to a degree PFOX: queer people aren't real people, so we can treat them as objects.

Rosedale, Md. - New developments tonight in the case of a person brutally attacked at a McDonalds in Baltimore County. Equality Maryland says the victim is a transgender woman. The organization’s board president, Chuck Butler released the following statement:

"A member of our community was recently the victim of senseless violence. Equality Maryland is saddened that in this day and age, bigotry and discrimination against transgender individuals continue, especially in our own backyard.

No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation. We encourage the State's Attorney General to investigate this as a hate crime based on gender identity. We are encouraged that McDonald's is working with local police to investigate this incident, and hope that the company will follow-up with appropriate disciplinary action against any employees involved.

We remain committed to advancing gender identity protections for the entire state of Maryland and will continue to work with local organizations and legislators to advance these protections.

Equality Maryland, with the Transgender Education Project will work to empower the transgender community as the educational voice of their community and develop trainings and support programs in coalition with state and national transgender organizations on a broad range of topics that include support and resource information for transgender Marylanders. The project will continue to hold educational forums for the population at large."

Baltimore County Police are currently investigating the beating of the 22-year-old girl.

When police arrived at the scene the woman appeared to be having a seizure.

Witnesses say she was attacked by two women who are in custody. The one attacker 14, is being charged as a juvenile and charges are pending for the 18 year old.

When one woman tried to step in and stop the attack, she too, was punched by the teens.

The victim was taken to Franklin Square Hospital for treatment, but her condition was not immediately available.

The beating was captured on video tape which has since gone viral online.

McDonald's Corporate headquarters released this statement about the incident.

"We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling. McDonald’s strives to be a safe, welcoming environment for everyone who visits.

Nothing is more important to us than the safety of customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter."

A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald's restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.

The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee of the Rosedale restaurant and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men are seen standing idly by.

Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim's head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man's voice tells the women to run because police are coming.

The three-minute clip was apparently first posted on YouTube, then taken down by administrators who said it violated the site's policies. But it popped back up on other sites and was ultimately linked from the popular Drudge Report, which gave it top billing for much of the day.

By early evening, the video had received more than 500,000 views on one site alone.

County police confirmed that the attack occurred April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave. Police said the 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman.

Equality Maryland said the victim is a transgender woman and called on state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler to step in and investigate the case as a hate crime. Police and prosecutors said they did not know whether the victim is a transgender woman.

"It does appear that the victim was a transgender woman, and she was brutalized while people stood by and watched," said Lisa Polyak, vice president of the board of directors for Equality Maryland, an advocacy organization that fought unsuccessfully in the past legislative session for greater protections for transgender individuals. "There's no excuse for that violence under any circumstances, but we would encourage police to investigate as a hate crime."

The police report does not provide a motive, but quotes one of the suspects saying that the fight was "over using a bathroom."

As the video spread online, McDonald's acknowledged that the attack had occurred in a Baltimore-area restaurant and said it was working with local police.

If McDonald’s thinks it is “welcoming,” they seriously need to rethink their slogan. Unless maybe it’s “Welcome to hell, I’ll be your beater, can I smash your skull open please.”

The first thing McDonald’s needs to do if it wants my business ever again is to fire every employee from the manager on down who allowed a woman to be beaten nearly to death in their restaurant.

But I’m not just pissed off at McDonald’s – as loathsomely as they acted (and I hope the chain loses a gazillion dollar lawsuit for not protecting that girl whether “she’s” a real girl or not) – as much as I’m pissed off at the fact that we now live in a society where our highest law enforcement officials say “Never bring a lawsuit against a black.”

The thing that strikes me is how this story ends. The media doesn’t know anything about this. Nobody’s done anything about it. If it had been white attackers going after a black victim, dang, the mainstream media fecal matter would have hit that rotary oscillator with a vengeance, and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been all over the media feeding frenzy even if it was entirely made up.

This vicious attack may end up getting filed as a hate crime. But if it does, it’s only because the victim who was beaten nearly to death in public with about a dozen people doing nothing to stop it was homosexual.

The moral of the story is this: if you are white, and you get the crap kicked out of you by black people, you tell the authorities and the media and everybody else that you are as queer as a three-dollar bill. Because otherwise your “hate crime” case will get round filed.

I suppose I have a better understanding of how black people used to feel: an oppressive illegitimate criminal thug justice system that didn’t do a damn thing to help victims because of the color of their skin. We’re still a ways off from the point where you’ll start seeing white people lynched on a public tree. That’s the kind of thing that would be more likely during Obama’s and Holder’s second term.

On the bright side, eventually white people actually might get to use the “white rage” defense when we they go postal and commit a spree of racist hate crimes.

so anytime a gay is attacked we can treat it more seriously than the other crime victims

homosexuality is bad for those who participate in it

we need to pass that along to kids

otherwise, we are victimizing them

"The perpetrators dehumanized the victim, enabling themselves to attack her; that's essentially the tactic of such groups as CRC, FRC, CWfA, and to a degree PFOX: queer people aren't real people, so we can treat them as objects."

you're extrapolating way too much from a situation you know little, if nothing, about

you're doing so because that reinforces your preconceived notions

when will you stop doing that?

we live in a generally safe and secure society, regardless of the weird stuff you're into

the laws we have are perfectly adequate to deter crime and establish justice

to treat crimes against deviants as more serious than those against normal citizens is actually unjust

do you know how many other crimes happened on this same day across America?

The "restroom" in question is a single stall with a basin and toilet. Only one occupant, who must obtain a key to it from the staff.

The victim is post-op - she has female anatomy, as well as being legally female, with a female birth certificate and so on.

She was attacked while leaving the stall. The attackers were never in it.

The immediate cause appears to have been that one of the attacker's boyfriends attempted to talk to her while she entered the facility. She told him that she really had no time, she had to go NOW. The attackers didn't like the boyfriend communicating with the victim.

When the attackers during the initial assault suspected that the victim might be transgendered, that is when the attack escalated into a full beating, including theft of her phone so she couldn't call 911, and attempting to drag her out of the store so there would be no witnesses to what followed.

One of the staff picked up the victim's phone when the attacker dropped it and kept the victim from using it.

The victim also has petit mal epilepsy, which can be triggered by severe stress.

"The "restroom" in question is a single stall with a basin and toilet. Only one occupant, who must obtain a key to it from the staff.

The victim is post-op - she has female anatomy, as well as being legally female, with a female birth certificate and so on.

She was attacked while leaving the stall. The attackers were never in it."

if true, then the individual wasn't attacked for using the bathroom

how could they attack when the person is leaving the stall if there is only one key?

"The immediate cause appears to have been that one of the attacker's boyfriends attempted to talk to her while she entered the facility. She told him that she really had no time, she had to go NOW. The attackers didn't like the boyfriend communicating with the victim."

doesn't seem to make sense

surely the boyfriend had talked to others that night

what about the conversation caused the attack? was it flirting? a request for money?

also, where was the boyfriend?

"When the attackers during the initial assault suspected that the victim might be transgendered, that is when the attack escalated into a full beating,"

look, another lunatic frige gay advocate with mind-reading ability

"including theft of her phone so she couldn't call 911, and attempting to drag her out of the store so there would be no witnesses to what followed.

One of the staff picked up the victim's phone when the attacker dropped it and kept the victim from using it."

none of this was on film

if true, why do you think picking it up was an attempt to keep the victim from using it?

one employee of McD was clearly trying to prevent the attackers from getting to the victim

who was the guy in the blue shirt?

in addition to the McD employee and the old lady, he was also trying to help

"The victim also has petit mal epilepsy, which can be triggered by severe stress."

Transgender activists have scheduled a rally in a Baltimore suburb for Monday night to protest the April 18 beating of a transgender woman by two female attackers inside a McDonald’s restaurant.

A video of the beating of Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, has been seen by hundreds of thousands of people online after a McDonald’s employee shot the video with his cell phone and posted it to YouTube.

The video shows two teenage women repeatedly punching and kicking Polis in the head and body as she curled up on the restaurant floor. It was posted on other sites before going viral and creating an uproar within the LGBT community across the country.

Hundreds of thousands of individual views of the video have been recorded by various websites, according to the Baltimore Sun, which has given extensive coverage of the incident.

Polis was treated and released from a hospital near the suburban Baltimore town of Rosedale, where the McDonald’s restaurant is located. Baltimore County police have charged a 14-year-old woman as a juvenile in the incident and said they expected to charge the other teen implicated in the attack, who is said to be 18.

The franchise owner of the McDonald’s where the incident occurred announced on Saturday that he has fired the employee who made the video.

The three-minute video shows another McDonald’s employee and an elderly female customer attempting to separate the attackers from Polis. It also shows other employees and customers standing by, with some laughing.

A police report says the incident began when the two female attackers became upset after seeing Polis enter the women’s bathroom at the McDonald’s. The employee who recorded the incident posted a message on his YouTube site saying Polis was a man dressed like a woman who entered the women’s bathroom.

“And When Told To Get Out Tha ladies Bathroom He Got Smart With Everybody So Tha Two Girls Beat Him Up [sic],” said the employee, according to the website The Smoking Gun, which made a copy of the message before the employee deleted it.

“This is precisely the kind of hatred and bigotry that transgender women and men deal with on a daily basis,” said Caroline Temmerand of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland in a statement announcing the rally.

“We as a society have failed if we cannot do more to protect all Marylanders from this kind of brutality,” she said.

The statement says the rally was scheduled to take place outside the McDonald’s at 6315 Kenwood Ave., Rosedale, Md., at 7 p.m. Monday, April 25.

The groups Trans-United and TransMaryland also were involved in organizing the rally.

“Our primary concern is for Ms. Polis’ well being,” said Jenna Fischetti of TransMaryland. “We will support her through this difficult time and we ask that the legal process be unhampered and thorough.”

The statewide LGBT group Equality Maryland issued a statement Friday condemning the incident.

“No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation,” the statement says. “We encourage the state’s Attorney General to investigate this as a hate crime based on gender identity.”

The statement, released by the group’s board chair Charles Butler, says the group was encouraged that McDonald’s was working with local police to investigate the incident and called on McDonald’s to take appropriate disciplinary action against any other employee that acted inappropriately.

A police report says officers investigating the incident initially classified it as a second-degree assault.

A spokesperson for the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s office said the office was investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

The franchise owner of the McDonald’s restaurant in the Baltimore suburb who fired the employee who made the video told the Sun he was considering disciplinary action, including possibly firing, of other employees who may have acted inappropriately in connection with the incident.

McDonald’s corporate headquarters posted a statement on its website condemning the attack against Polis, saying the company was “shocked” by the video. It called the incident “unacceptable, disturbing and troubling” and said the company was working with its franchise owner and Baltimore-area authorities to investigate the matter.

The attack against Polis took place one week after the Maryland Senate voted to recommit a transgender non-discrimination bill to committee, killing it for the year.

State Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, a Democrat who voted to send the transgender bill back to committee, represents the district in which the attack took place.

Montgomery County transgender activist Dana Beyer, who is also among the organizers of Monday’s rally, said organizers have invited Klausmeier to attend the rally.

“We haven’t heard back from her,” Beyer said on Sunday.

Beyer said she and other transgender activists are relieved that Polis, while roughed up badly, does not appear to have sustained serious physical injuries. Beyer said she was hopeful that something positive would come from the incident in the wake of the extraordinary following it has generated online and in the media.

“Things like this always have the potential for being a real spur to action,” she said. “It often takes a tragedy to get people to recognize what’s at stake. Fortunately, she’s fine. If it turns out this galvanizes the community and gets some elected officials to actually listen to us seriously who weren’t willing to do so as recently as two weeks ago, then that’s a good thing.”

"A police report says the incident began when the two female attackers became upset after seeing Polis enter the women’s bathroom at the McDonald’s."

well, this is saying that the earlier post by zero is a lie

if someone who looked like a girl wnet into the girls' room, why would that upset anyone?

doesn't make sense

"“This is precisely the kind of hatred and bigotry that transgender women and men deal with on a daily basis,” said Caroline Temmerand of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland in a statement announcing the rally."

really, Caroline?

why don't we have a pot more youtube examples out there?

"“We as a society have failed if we cannot do more to protect all Marylanders from this kind of brutality,” she said."

we invest quite a bit in law enforcement already

we don't want to become a police state

eliminating all possibility of crime is not worth it

although, maybe if we did away with stupid seat-belt laws we could afford an armed guard in every McD's

"The statement, released by the group’s board chair Charles Butler, says the group was encouraged that McDonald’s was working with local police to investigate the incident and called on McDonald’s to take appropriate disciplinary action against any other employee that acted inappropriately."

this statement is inappropriate

any business would do the same, obviously

in our capitalist society, they want to get as much business as possible

especially from people with a lot of disposable income like GLBTs

"The attack against Polis took place one week after the Maryland Senate voted to recommit a transgender non-discrimination bill to committee, killing it for the year."

so what?

it also took place not long after the budget bill passed Congress

there is really no connection

McD's doesn't prohibit transgenders from using any restrooms and they're certainly are happy to have their business

"Montgomery County transgender activist Dana Beyer, who is also among the organizers of Monday’s rally."

oh, thank heaven Dana's getting involved

good PR opportunity

"Beyer said she and other transgender activists are relieved that Polis, while roughed up badly, does not appear to have sustained serious physical injuries."

actually, has anyone learned why this person couldn't just fight off a couple of teenage girls?

unless they had weapons, it's hard to see them inflicting any serious injuries

"Beyer said she was hopeful that something positive would come from the incident in the wake of the extraordinary following it has generated online and in the media."

yes, never waste an unfortunate event

"“Things like this always have the potential for being a real spur to action,” she said "If it turns out this galvanizes the community and gets some elected officials to actually listen to us seriously who weren’t willing to do so as recently as two weeks ago, then that’s a good thing.”"

actually, beating people up is already against the law

the law rejected two weeks ago wouldn't have had any effect on this incident

I don't even know why everyone insists on feeding anonymous' cleverly thought out, but wholly ridiculous claims. He is just a troll, looking to stir you up. On the surface his comments may seem to be reasonable and logical, but they are so only to people who are looking for a way to deny trans people their basic human rights. Ignore the troll.